THIRD BOOK OF READING LESSONS, COMPILED BY THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. DUBLIN: WILLIAM POWELL, 68, THOMAS-STREET. SOLD BY DOLMAN, JONES, ANDREWS, J. BROWNE, AND F. A. LITTLE, LIMERICK : 1841. PREFACE. THE THIRD BOOK OF READING LESSONS, now presented to the Public by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, will be found to correspond in matter and arrangement with the volumes previously offered. In its adaptation to the analytic or explanatory mode of instruction, as well as in the order, variety, and graduated scale of the lessons, this little volume will be found, not only to harmonize with the plan of education adopted by the Institute from which it emanates, but to exhibit its peculiar features. In the short sketches of History, Geography, and Science, which are scattered throughout the work, the compilers have endeavoured to select whatever was most picturesque and striking, for the purpose of exciting the interest of the youthful mind, by the charms of truth, and presenting the wonders of nature in so strong a light, as to render the marvels of fiction tame and feeble in comparison. In order to accommodate the length of the extracts to the capacity of the class of readers, for whom the Third Book is designed, and to afford the teachers an opportunity of practical illustration, it has been considered expedient to render the lessons as short as the nature of the subjects would admit. By the miscellaneous character of the arrangement, an opportunity is afforded of training the pupil to habits, not only of observation, but of reflection; the first, by a reference to living objects, or to the scenes and characters of real life; the second, by the impressive appeals of religious truth, which, apart from their moral effects, possess a paramount influence in giving a reflecting tone to the mind. As the facts of religion have furnished at all times the best refutation of its adversaries, it has been considered judicious, occasionally to vary its didactic lessons with brief extracts from the History of the Christian Church. pa Among the moral and religious pieces in prose and poetry, the pupils of the Christian Schools will recognize the effusions of one whose voice once supplied the lessons now furnished by his writings, and whose living example impressed the moral which his memory must illustrate for the future. The look of attention and the tone of benevolence, in which these lessons were conveyed, will indeed be missed, but his spirit will still speak to the hearts of those over whom he bent with more than rental solicitude. In recalling the memory of one who, for their sakes, forsook not only the first circle of literary distinction, but the more endearing one of kindred and of home, it will not fail also to convey the salutary truth, that the highest attainments of the scholar may be still further exalted and ennobled by religion; that the lustre of genius never appears to such advantage as through the veil of humility; and that the moral beauty of virtue itself acquires an additional charm when exercised in the cause of charity. |